Always Second Best
by QuillWench
Summary: My first posted story, sparked by reading other Harry PotterSailor Moon crossovers.
1. Default Chapter

It sucks, to use the vulgar western term, to be the one in second place.  
I can say this from long experience, years worth of it, in fact. A millennia-worth, if you catch my drift, or know who I am.  
I'm sure you've heard of the pretty sailor-suit-wearing soldiers who fight for love and justice in the name of their respective guardian planets. And I'm fairly certain that if you have, you know about the core group of girls who defend our princess. If you know that much, I'm guessing you've heard the descriptions of us as well: the beauty queen, the genius, the amazon, and the bitch. Now let's take a stab at which one I am.  
Yes, and I know it. I've got reasons for it. I don't know how the rest of them rationalize their involuntary images (I think Ami personally doesn't mind hers), but mine...Mine is self preservation. I had to find some way to stand out in the group, to stand up against the brilliance of our princess. To show a little individuality. Being a tough bitch was the way it came out, whether or not that was my original intention.  
Well, maybe being a bitch goes a long way before that even started. People haven't exactly been kind about my powers. It's just been easier to be hard-hearted at first and then loosen up when I've gotten to know someone. When I met Bunny, it was the opposite. I had to toughen up so that I wasn't lost behind her perfections. After all, how does one compete against a divine figure except by reveling in humanly passions?  
But this story isn't about how I got here. I shouldn't even be telling you the why of it, either. For the sake of understanding, I give you the reason I have for being what I am:  
Lack of self-confidence.  
I can hear the snorts and scoffs from those that know a little more than something about us. How can I be lacking in confidence?  
Confidence can be pretended. It's one of the first things I was taught as a warrior: Never let your enemy know your fear. This applies even to emotional and human enemies, not just the monsters I've fought for so long. You may have seen me yelling at Sailor Moon for being a wimp, because she cried or ran from her battles. There wasn't a single time I wasn't scared out of my wits as well. I just hide it well. I hide it by being a bitch. 


	2. Chapter 2

Luna is perceptive, and even more so is Michiru, whose innate grace and self-possession I admire fiercely. It was Michiru who spoke up on my behalf over who would be the Princess's bodyguard on this year-long journey. Haruka was all for Makoto, probably thinking that brute strength was the way to go. But Hotaru quietly sided with Michiru, and Setsuna, with that long-seeing gaze of hers, gave a wry smile and agreed as well. Looking back now, it's easy to see why Haruka didn't put up a fight. Those three are rarely, if ever, wrong.  
Mina-chan pouted, her classic profile not diminished one bit by the scowl. "I'm the leader of the group, and I've been to England before. Why can't I be the one to go?"  
Artemis sighed, his blue eyes narrowing in feline irritation. "Because there are too many boys that you know there, for one thing. For another, you are the leader, and the leader must stay with the majority of the troops. And for the last, Rei has well-trained psychic powers that will be more useful in a magical school than a display of physical strength, and she has plenty of all-around skills that will make up for the lack of the other three of you."  
"How come no one's asked me if I want to go? I meant to spend this year –"  
"Doing what you always do: meditate, study, do rituals, fight with us, and fend off your would-be suitors." Luna looked down her little black nose at me. I always wondered how a cat managed to do that.  
"Rei-chan, I want you to go, if you will."  
Usagi's soft flute-like voice stopped my grumblings. Her sapphire gaze pinned me, and I gave an exasperated version of Artemis's sigh. The most annoying thing about Usagi is that she isn't even aware of her charm, and she isn't aware of the power of our love for her. It must be the Crystal inside her, influencing her to say certain things to tug at our sense of protection, as a survival mechanism. That one sentence was all it took for my sense of duty and my wish to please her to rise.  
She seemed a little hurt by the sigh. By long habit, I didn't correct it. I ignored her quick stricken expression and leaned back from the table we had gathered around to start a mental inventory of what I would need to pack. 


	3. Chapter 3

We were taken by the other soldiers to a train station. There was a letter in Usagi's hand, with instructions as to how we were going to enter a portal of some kind, to take a magical train to the magical school. It involved leaning against a wall during a specified number of minutes, when the fabric between the worlds would rent and let us through.  
"Let me see it again."  
"You've seen the letter plenty of times, Rei. We all know by heart the times, and we're a half hour early just in case," Makoto soothed.  
"Strange to think we got here that early with Usagi here," I said peevishly, trying to hide my nervousness.  
"Rei!" she squealed in protest. "I've gotten lots better at being on time, honest!"  
Mako-chan shook her head and held out the package she had carried to the station. "Here's a little food for the journey. I don't know what they'll feed you there, but if you get desperate enough, find a way to write home and I'll send you food while you're there too."  
I took the box, muttering something about protecting it from the piranhas in Usagi's stomach. My face must have been stormy, because Haruka knocked my chin up with her forefinger and then chucked my cheek. "Cheer up, pyro."  
Setsuna clutched her hand in a pocket of her jeans, fingering a miniaturized time key, I knew, out of her own uneasiness. "I'll be sending the gifts you need by this evening. Someone at the castle should be able to give them to you in time to present them."  
Mina-chan, resplendent in a sky blue sailor dress and hat, came forward and adjusted my beret, my pea-coat, taking the opportunity to lean her forehead against mine with a teasing grin and whisper, "Have at least two affairs with some of the handsome students there."  
I cracked a grin at that, forgetting to remind her that I distrusted most men. Nothing dampened her spirits, and I loved that.  
Ami puffed out a breath, knocking her dark bangs askew. "Make sure you learn something while you're there. Their methods of magic are quite different from our own; you'd benefit from attending even the younger classes."  
"Ami, that's why we're going," Usagi waved a dismissing hand before hugging her.  
Michiru gave me a grave look and handed me another small box. "Open this when you get to your room there. And pay attention to your instincts. They will serve you well, the more you listen, the more you learn, the more you trust."  
To Usagi she gave another box, long, rectangular and thin. A necklace of some sort. "Use this for the crystal. Keep the crystal on it, not in your compact." Like a child, Usa-chan was already digging into the box and pulling out a delicate link chain that had a setting for the crystal, and a trail of tiny diamonds that ran down from the clasp. She nodded her compliance, ready to be off.  
I pulled her back to lean on the wall, checking my watch for the millionth time again. "Watch over my grandfather?" I asked Makoto.  
She smiled. "I already promised to. Hotaru here is going to start learning a few priestess duties herself. We'll see if we can't build a few muscles into these skinny arms when she helps me clean the shrine." She pinched Hotaru's forearm and earned a squeak and smack on her lower back for her troubles.  
I knew Makoto would keep her word. It made me breath a little easier.  
Being near Setsuna and Michiru must have amplified something. All of a sudden I felt time-space move. I locked eyes with the Time-keeper and saw her give a brief nod. Against my back a portal was opening, I could feel the warp and the weft of this world's fabric easing apart, un-knitting as it were.  
I pulled Usagi against my side and stepped backwards into the wall. I heard Mina-chan squeal in surprise and saw her reach for us before a flash of darkness overtook us and cleared. We were in the other train station.  
People who must have been witches and wizards were bustling along, robes flapping about them in the breezes that always accompanied a train tunnel. Some had strange cages with equally strange creatures in them. I squeezed Usagi's hand when I heard her gasp at the sight of what I know now is a goblin. I took the letter from the pocket of her coat, scanning it again and then dumping the rest of the contents of the envelope into my other hand.  
"Here are our tickets. Let's go. We should be in...." I looked around wildly for a moment, confused and trying not to show it, for both our sakes. "That car," I pointed, and pulled her, ignoring her protests, the whole way down the line to it. I was grateful that the seats were two bench seats to a compartment, instead of an open car. It gave us some privacy. I made Usagi sit, and we opened Makoto's care-package, divvying up the contents and settling in our respective seats with the items we had brought to keep us amused on the trip: comic books for her, a book of old Japanese myths for me. 


	4. Chapter 4

Pardon my rudeness. I was supposed to explain a few more things in the beginning, was I not? For instance, where we are headed, and why.  
In that surprising way of hers, Usagi suggested that we take a year to visit a foreign school. After all, her Mamoru was doing so for college. Why couldn't we?  
Scoffs all around this time. Usagi in college? And in a foreign one at that? Any college that was out of the country was not likely to accept a student with grades as poor as hers. Hardly any college in-country was going to, at any rate.  
She brought the idea up tentatively, over milkshakes, while we discreetly (well, as 'discreetly' as is possible with Mina) eyed Motoki's backside as he cleaned the arcade. Out of the blue, completely random: "Do you think we could take classes at an English school this year?"  
It took a moment for it to sink into all of us. Ami heard it first and blinked behind her glasses, setting her highlighter down on the book she had been perusing. The rest of us caught on not too long afterwards and I admit that I was the first to begin the subsequent tittering.  
"Oh, Usa-chan, more school for you? You're the last person I would imagine saying that!"  
She was immediately defensive at my comment, ready to launch into a patented Usagi whimper/wail about how mean I was to her, when Makoto swooped in to rescue our eardrums.  
"Well, I guess Rei is just really surprised, after all the complaining you did about school and all, Usa. You're going to have to explain where this idea came from."  
"Please do! I'm glad you've decided to make some further course of study!" Ami border-lined on ecstasy with this comment. I wanted to laugh at that too.  
Usagi seemed startled that her idea was getting some good feedback, and she took a moment to stir her straw around in her chocolate milkshake. "I've heard about this school in England, or maybe even in Scotland, where – "  
"Wait, you don't even know where this school is?" Makoto's voice rose to blot out Mina-chan's excited "I've been there!"  
"It's been made to...not be found very easily." Our princess finished weakly, then hurried to go on. "It's not a normal school, girls, it's a magical school! Except the magic is so much different than ours! When I heard about it, I thought that it would be the coolest thing ever to go there and learn how they do it, and that way our powers could be boosted somewhat..."  
Ami pondered. I could tell it wasn't exactly what she had in mind, but Usa-chan did have a point. There wasn't a battle that went by when at least one of us didn't lament the lack of qualified teachers to guide us through our powers, and even older-than-time Setsuna could only teach us so much. I was curious from the first mention of 'magical'.  
"That's actually not such a bad idea. If we went, the rest of you could really work on developing your psychic powers."  
Mina groaned. For a leader, she's rather reluctant to hone her intuitive skills. "Only you would care about that, Rei. That's why we have you in the first place."  
I bent my head quickly to my strawberry milkshake. That wasn't true. The reason they had me in the first place was not because I cared to have these powers. It was because I carried them from my lost civilization, a place I had barely begun to remember with the awakening of our princess. Fat lot of good they had done me in this life until that point as well. It would have been a lot easier for me had they lain dormant for years, like Ami's and Mina's had.  
But I digress  
"The school's name is Hogwarts. Isn't it horrible sounding? But I've heard that it's one of the best magic centers in all the world, and I really think we should go." Usagi pleaded. Funny that at the time none of us really questioned where she had gotten this information.  
Eventually this arcade meeting broke up due to our various life paths, and would reform at Mako-chan's kitchen table. But it was already half-decided in our minds, just from Usagi's insistence, that it was too good of an idea to pass up, if it could be made to work.  
So we were on the train, and I still hadn't given much thought to how Usagi had managed such a correspondence with the headmaster of the school, and arranged most of the details even before that arcade meeting. 


	5. Chapter 5

The school was huge. I could tell that even seeing it in the afternoon distance.  
All right, anyone who has seen a British castle will tell me "of course, idiot, it's a castle." But I had glanced idly over glossy pictures in books of European castles and never had they prepared me for the sheer size of such a building. Granted, it was also magical; my own senses were fairly buzzing, so that could explain how such a magnitude could be achieved. My heart sank. I was going to look like a right fool trying to find my way around that place.  
I heard a clip-clopping, like horses, and we turned to see a team of ghastly looking horses pulling a carriage towards us. Usagi shrank and I...I wanted to do the same thing, and it took all my priestess discipline to fight the urge. They seemed edged in some light, and looked...carnivorous. Like European dragons bred with horses, and a little dinosaur mixed in. But they pulled as docilely as any domestic horse and stopped in front of us to let us in.  
We were let off at the foot of a long set of stone stairs leading up to a heavy wood door that was decorated with what I assumed was the school's coat of arms, or perhaps its seal, or something. A shield was quartered, and each section had its own animal: a badger, a raven, a rampant lion, and a snake. Said book of castles had also displayed some European families' coats of arms, but this was like none I had seen. At the sound of their clopping, I gave one more quick nervous glance at the strange horses, who were unmindful of us. Before starting up the steps, I smoothed down my clothes – black stockings, a mid-thigh charcoal pleated skirt, a crisp white blouse, and mary-janes – and made Usagi do the same.  
Halfway up the steps, the doors swung open and we were greeted by a severe looking woman. She put me in mind of Luna, with her prim feline ways. Her bun of black hair looked too tight, and she wore spectacles (they couldn't possibly be termed 'glasses') of a small rectangular nature. I liked her already, even if she was wearing robes of a decidedly lurid emerald nature. To use the American term, she looked like she didn't deal or take bull-crap.  
"Princess Serenity, Princess Mars, I am Professor McGonagall. Welcome to Hogwarts." She extended a hand to each of us in turn, and I was won over by her warm business-like attitude. No nonsense with this one, I knew, but she seemed genuinely glad to have us.  
Usagi piped up in her friendly way, "Oh, please, we are Usagi Tsukino and Rei Hino. There are no titles for us in these forms."  
Most people would have raised an eyebrow at the word forms. Professor McGonagall must have been filled in with our stories and particulars before- hand, because she took it in stride and gestured us up the rest of the steps.  
"I am the deputy headmistress, head of Gryffindor house, and the Transfigurations professor. You'll be staying in the Gryffindor Tower for this year, unless you find it unsuitable, of course, and then other accommodations will be provided."  
"I'm sure we'll be fine. Your hospitality has already been generous in letting us stay this year." Gryffindor house? Transfigurations?  
"Headmaster Dumbledore is anxious that the children learn as much as they can, and from as many sources. We both hope that we will learn from each other, as we're teaching you." She led us through a passageway that went past a door into a feasting hall. Several students were there, eating lunch. They paid us no attention, for which I was glad, but I couldn't help following Usagi's example and poking my nose around the corner to stare at the wide range of ages and faces.  
"Now," she added. "I'm sure you're both tired and want to rest before tonight. I will take you to your rooms. Luggage has already been sent, by your friend who is a time-turner, I believe. Shall I have the house-elves bring up tea as well?"  
  
We didn't know what house-elves were, but Usagi smiled broadly again. "That would be wonderful." 


	6. Chapter 6

My room was at the top of a flight of stairs. Halfway up the flight, it split into two, and Usagi's room was on the left, mine the right. When I entered, I was taken aback. My room at home had a Zen-like simplicity: clean lines and a reminiscence of Feng Shui. This room was ornate in comparison. I supposed the magic these people had allowed them to show off a bit. It was a round tower room, and it had one large glass southern window, the panes split by iron filigree. A mahogany vanity table with an ottoman style seat, sat in front of it, holding a low triple mirror and several bottles or cases of make-up and other luxuries. I would explore that later.  
A wardrobe that stood as tall as the ceiling, the same mahogany as the table, carved with as many curves and sweeps, was opposite the table. I saw my suitcases and various bags all neatly stacked next to it. I opened the doors curiously. One had hooks on the back of it (I hung my jacket there) and the other a full length mirror (I made a face into it). There was plenty of hanger space, but also several drawers. A good thing, as I have more clothes than I knew what to do with. But everyone has to have some kind of weakness, right?  
A fireplace was opposite the window, huge, and a large rug of some thick animal fur was in front of it, as well as a little wood and cushion stool. How perfect to study, and more importantly meditate, in front of!  
But it was the bed that intrigued me most. It was in the center of the room, and it was circular. Sunk into the floor and piled with jewel- tone pillows in chenille and linen, with the softest of white linen sheets. And hanging from the ceiling were veils and curtains of a most romantic nature in several shades of deep red: ruby, garnet, wine, rose – I would feel as if I were encased in an upside down flower. I saw that by pulling a cord that was wound around a small hook at the bed-edge, I could raise the curtain ends to let more air in, rather like a tent.  
I've always had a secret obsession with the ornate. My favorite article of clothing was a kimono, formal, of a dark ruby red thick satin, lined with linen, that had the most intricate embroidery of a phoenix and its fire swirling up one arm, over the back, and down the other. This room, which had the same richness and antiquity, it was like stepping into a private fantasy. It was impractical, probably had no basis whatsoever in true European medieval decoration, and while I felt vaguely uncomfortable without the austere comforts of my room at home, I decided I could most definitely get used to it for my year long 'vacation'.  
I heard a rattle of china and a muffled pop behind me. I turned to find a table for one set with a tea tray right in front of the fireplace. I fell to the toasted bread and fragrant liquid without delay. 


End file.
